On October 30 the key owners of the Budapest Bank Group, MKB Bank Group, and Takarékbank Group signed an investment and shareholders’ agreement in accordance with their previous letter of intent. In accordance with their agreement, on December 15 the signatories transferred their shares in their respective banks to Magyar Bankholding, their jointly owned financial holding company creating thereby Hungary's second-largest banking group providing services to 1.9 million customers, 200,000 micro-enterprises, 30,000 small and medium-sized enterprises, and 6,000 private banking clients.
DLA Piper provided regulatory, corporate, and transactional advice while also coordinating the law firms working on the transaction.
András Nemescsói, partner and head of the litigation and regulatory team of DLA Piper Hungary noted, "We are proud that we had the opportunity to participate in the consolidation of Budapest Bank, MKB Bank, and Takarékbank and the establishment and licensing of the first financial holding company in Hungary. Without the focus and support of all involved in this exceptional transaction and the constructive approach of the regulators, the transaction could not have been completed in such a timely manner.
"We expect that the newly created banking group will prove to be a resilient and integrated universal bank of systemic importance able to support Hungary’s recovery through COVID,” he added.
Gábor Molnár, partner and head of corporate and M&A of DLA Piper Hungary said, “The combination of the three banking groups in one step is a uniquely complex process which is very rarely seen in practice globally. We did our truly very best to make the implementation of this extremely challenging transaction as smooth as possible by exploiting all expertise, dedication, and virtues of our firm. This combination is in line with the regulators’ call for further consolidation within the banking system and the recent consolidation seen in the sector.”
The DLA Piper Hungary team was co-led by András Nemescsói and Gábor Molnár with a core team consisting of Gábor Hollós, Jenő Kimmel, András Orbán, Balázs Szalbot and Péter Virág.
